How to Drink Your Face Off during the Month of January

WATCH OF THE WEEK

Between Snap Inc.’s Spectacles and live video infiltrating seemingly every social platform, 2017 is poised to be the year of voyeuristic video streaming. OG live video platform, Periscope, recently debuted a 360-degree live feature and the internet wasted no time setting records. Surfer Mitch Oates brought the Twitter-owned app its first live underwater 360-degree video stream from Sydney, Australia, taking viewers 30 feet underwater using his iPhone 6 and Periscope’s Insta360 camera. Viewers could move around the scene with a cursor or finger. While the milestone stream was noteworthy in its own right (particularly given the fact that Facebook also has this technology), it wasn’t without its shortcomings—Periscope’s Achilles’ heel is that the new feature relies on the notoriously buggy Insta360 Nano camera, the failure of which lead to Oates’ video being cut short.

MARKETING BUZZ

Spotify is quickly making a name for itself as a marketing powerhouse by leveraging timely pop culture moments to stay relevant and top of mind. This week, as the country bids farewell to President Obama, the streaming service has a suggestion for how he can use his newfound free time–a position at Spotify. It all started when Obama joked about waiting for his Spotify job offer due to the popularity of his Summer 2016 playlists, the exchange of which is detailed in this Instagram post from the event. Spotify didn’t miss a beat, responding with the perfect position for the politician, President of Playlists. It may not be the White House but, based on the description, it sounds like Obama is perfect for the role. Your move, Mr. President.

OUR OBSESSION

There’s certainly no shortage of trendy coffee shops in Los Angeles, but Carrera Café on Melrose is setting itself apart, both online and off, with its customizable coffee art. An evolution of the milk magic we’re used to seeing from experienced baristas, customers can now choose complex illustrations, from an artfully written quote to a picture of their face, to be printed atop their favorite foamy beverage. Taking latte art to the next level, Carrera has both coolness and caffeine, and by tapping into Angelenos’ penchant for Instagramming everything, this a hotspot on every influencer’s list. Those of us who can't make it to Melrose can follow Carrera Café Instagram to enjoy their best creations.

IN OUR CARTS

Is shelling out for every iteration of Kylie’s Lip Kits draining your beauty budget? Enter Beauty Pie, the makeup subscription service that aims to make luxury makeup affordable for us mere mortals. Selling a whole host of products made with high quality ingredients, Beauty Pie lowers costs by cutting out the middle man—i.e. makeup companies whose fancy packaging and designer labels drive up prices. For around $10, beauty junkies can sign up for a membership for to unlock even lower prices. Created by a group of beauty gurus who wanted to make quality makeup affordable, Beauty Pie is set to rock the foundation (pun intended) of the beauty world.

APP-TASTIC

As we enter a new year, Millennials everywhere have resolved to engage in more acts of “Self Care” and have no doubt been searching for the perfect app to hold their hand as they do. Enter The Happiness Planner. The new app functions just like a regular calendar app, but with a twist in that it asks users questions to contemplate what really makes them happy and encourages them to incorporate more activities around those things. Alongside their to-do lists, users will also find lists such as “Today I’m Excited About,” “Today’s Reflection,” and “Rate Yourself” for optimal introspection and self-growth. While the app does require a monthly subscription after the trial period, we can all agree $2.99 is a small price to pay for true happiness.

PROPS TO

Is it just us, or does everyone feel like they’re signing a little bit of their life away when they check “agree” to those lengthy terms and conditions statements nobody ever reads? That’s just one reason Instagrammers everywhere are indebted to Jenny Afia, a privacy lawyer who spent several hours distilling the lengthy legal jargon of Instagram’s Privacy Policy into easy-to-understand phrases as part of the Children’s Commisioners’ “Growing Up Digital” Report. One of the most surprising things Afia uncovered is that Instagram is allowed to read users’ direct messages (DMs), meaning anything users share alongside their favorite celebrities’ posts and funny memes is fair game for Instagram to mine for personal information. Hopefully this new info will prompt users to think twice about what exactly goes down in their DMs.

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